How to Bend Aluminum Pipe

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Aluminum pipe is much easier to bend than aluminum tubing, due to the greater wall thickness, since it is less likely to collapse or deform when you bend it. The thicker material will also require more muscle or the use of a power bender.

Use a manual pipe bender or a hydraulic bender if you have one. You can bend 1 1/4" aluminum conduit by hand, but a manual pipe bender will make it easier. It doesn't matter what you use to bend the pipe, the main thing is how you keep it from collapsing.[1]

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Use whatever means you have to bend the pipe. The pipe will not collapse, but remember that there is a radius to wall thickness / diameter formula that must be observed. A loose rule of thumb is a maximum 3 1/2" radius to 1" diameter ratio.[3]

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wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 20 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. Together, they cited 5 references. This article has also been viewed 86,673 times.